Helicity-dependent photocurrent delta-I has been detected successfully under experimental configuration that a circularly polarized light beam is impinged with a right angle on a cleaved sidewall of the Fe/x-AlOx/GaAs-based n-i-p double-heterostructure. The photocurrent delta-I has showed a well-defined hysteresis loop which resembles that of the magnetization of the in-plane magnetized Fe layer in the devices. The value of delta-I has been |delta-I|~0.2 nA at 5 K under the remnant magnetization state. Study on temperature dependence of the relative delta-I value at H = 0 has revealed that it is maximized at temperatures 125 - 150 K, and is still measurable at room temperature.
@article{arxiv.1404.4135,
title = {Circularly polarized light detector based on ferromagnet/semiconductor junctions},
author = {H. Ikeda and N. Nishizawa and K. Nishibayashi and H. Munekata},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1404.4135},
year = {2014}
}